The Next Generation
by Nanci'sNeko
Summary: All the old charaters are dead or REALLY old and new ones arise with new challenges and new feelings.ANd other stuff that is really lame like... kidding.
1. The Dying King

**Disclaimer: I Don't own The Labyrinth BUT I do own all the new characters. So don't steal them... please!**

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**Chapter One: The Dying King**

Jepha walked down the long corridor toward his father's room. His eyes were glassy, deep and black and the servant next to him kept his head down, so that if tears began to fall no one would see. The small goblin even kept his head down even as he darted in front of the prince to open the large door that opened into a room with a lavish bed in the center. All around it goblins of all shapes, sizes and colors were gathered, all with their hats and helmets off. Some were sobbing and some were just staring in disbelief at the sick and dying man. The man who they thought would live forever. Jepha walked over to the bed. "Father." whispered Jepha his voice hoarse and dark. He leaned down on one knee and clutched his father's cold hand. He turned toward the crowd of goblins and loudly shouted "GET OUT NOW!!" The words resounded around the room as all the goblins rushed out of the room hoping that they wouldn't be the one to face Jepha's sadistic wrath. Sadly the last one was a small goblin maid.

"Wait," the maid stopped in fear began to breath to again when she realized it is the king that had spoken "could you get me some water?"

"Yes, your majesty." She said with him a quick smile and a deep bow. As soon as she left Jepha began to cry like he never had before not even when he had learned of his mother's death. The dying king reached and combed his hand through Jepha's jet black hair.

"You can't be dying. You're Jareth the invincible goblin king." Jepha moaned through his tears.

"Jepha, my dear son, you must take the throne immediately." said Jareth in a rasping voice. As if on cue the small goblin maid came in with the cup of water and placed it on the table next to the bed as she turned to leave Jepha caught the maid's arm and dug his nails into her wrist. She winced and audibly gasped obviously trying not to scream. He did all this with a trance like look on his face. His father reached and took hold of his shoulder. Jepha released the maid and she ran out of the room nursing her hurting arm. "Hand the water to me." said the king as Jepha did he looked backed at the door as if he could sense the eyes behind him he saw the door close the rest of the way.

"Fine, I'll take the throne aft…" The tears drowned out his next words and they both went silent well except for the occasional whimper from Jepha or a slight cough from the king. Jepha allowed no one inside, not that anyone wanted to go inside after what he did to the maid. Jepha stayed in there until his father died at exactly one a.m. Afterward Jepha found himself staring out the window ,in his chambers, at the dark sky and the small lights in the goblin city twinkled below him but he was not merely enjoying the peaceful scenery laid out before him. He was contemplating his father's last word he said it seconds before he had dozed off into the eternal sleep. The word was a name and That name was Sarah. The reason this disturbed Jepha was that his mother's name Agatha and his grandmother's name was Chetal. He would stay up all night and rack his brain but he wouldn't come up with anything. Little did he know some one Aboveground was suffering from a very similar situation.

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Well there was the first Chapter! I hope you liked it. Review for more. So YAAAAY! Have Fun!


	2. A Similiar Sitution

**Disclaimer: I Don't own The Labyrinth BUT I do own all the new characters. So don't steal them... please!**

**~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~**

**Chapter Two: A Similiar Sitution**

Kayla's grandmother had been there when no one else ever was and now she was dying in a cheap-ass hospice down the street from a fucking McDonald's, and no could do anything about it, but she was there and she was clutching her oldest granddaughter's hand telling her one last fantastic story about her magical adventures in a gigantic labyrinth and The beautiful Goblin King, whose name was never mentioned. Kayla tried to hold back her tears but as her grandmother's story came to a close her tears won the battle and poured down over her face. "Don't cry, Kayla, my dear. You Know I love you but everyone's time comes and we cant help that." Her grandmother said in a soft tone while stroking her short-ish, raven hair.

"It's not fair. Why do you have to die? Why couldn't it be somebody else anybody else but you!" Kayla moaned in between sobs in reply to grandmother's calm demeanor in the face of death.

"Oh dear, please don't cry. Here I have something for you dear." She leaned over away from Kayla and toward a white wicker side table and pulled out a small red book with golden letters on the front of it. "Now I want you to take good care of this book." she said with a small smile on her face " Take it. Go on." she said Kayla gently took the small book from her grandmother's hands and read the title. It was _Labyrinth__._

"Labyrinth. Grandma are these all your stories?" Kayla said looking up from the book in her hands with a questioning look on her face.

"Well, Kayla these aren't my stories but they are very similar. You know whenever I read this book I think of all my friends that I made and all the things that happened." She said with a small chuckle as she glanced at the small clock radio that sat on the wicker table it was blinking 12:00 A.M. "Midnight." she sighed in a wistful manner. Kayla smiled at her. But this intimate moment was shattered by a shrieking voice that cut through the air like a sharp knife.

"Kayla, hurry up we have to get home soon. I want to catch The Wheel Of Fortune. It's a really big special." Kayla's mother stood in the doorway with the baby, Sarah,

"Mom, I want to stay the night with Grandma." said Kayla her eyes flicking in between the hulky shadow that was her mother's boyfriend, who was "crashing" at there place until he "could get back on his feet", and her mother, who was a very temper mental woman.

"No, you are thirteen years old and you can not spend the night in a hospice and that is final." she countered her eyes turning into slits putting her hand on her waist, but instantly returned when she realized that she was still holding onto Baby Sarah, as they walked into the room.

"Martha I think she'll be fine if she stays the night. I know dear Mrs. Kingston's daughter stayed the night last week. And if she needs anything the nurses are always here. She would be fine if she stayed here, you wouldn't need to worry." Kayla's grandmother said to her daughter as she straightened herself out on the bed.

"Ugh, fine, _Sarah, _she can stay but only for one night and not one more." Her mother spit out as she pushed her way out of the small room with a large huff.

"Grandma I'm so sorry for her. I can't believe she called you by your first name, I mean she your dau…" Kayla began but was cut off by her grandmother's own apology.

"No, I'm sorry for letting you live with her. I honestly thought she would become more responsible after she, uh, had you but apparently not. And I'm even more sorry that you feel the need to apologize for her. You shouldn't feel sorry for something you didn't do." She said all this with a wistful look on her face "Well, now it's 12:36 we should really be getting to sleep." she said and began to settle down on her bed "Goodnight dear." she murmured as she brought the covers up to her chin and began to sleep.

Against her grandmother's wishes Kayla stayed awake and watched her breath. At 12:59 a.m., just as she was thinking about turning in, Kayla heard a shuddering gasp and then a sigh and one word she rushed forward to her grandmother and called out for a nurse. One rushed in and checked her pulse then called the time of death exactly 1:00 a.m. Much to both of their displeasures Kayla's mother was called to come drive her home even though Kayla assured the night nurses that she could walk home herself. Even though Kayla expected her mother to say something the car ride home was a silent one. When they got home Kayla rushed past her mother to the stairs and past Sarah's nursery to another flight of stairs. Up those was a small latch in the ceiling that lead to Kayla's attic room it was small but it was enough for her and there was enough wall space for Kayla's drawings and pictures that she had taken of her friends and her grandmother was the only family member up on her wall. She went to her bed and flopped on it in a fit of tears. She felt a small corner cutting into her thigh and she grabbed the small red book from her front pocket at that moment she felt like throwing it across the room into some dusty corner and forgetting all about it. But she stopped just as she was about to bring up above her head, the front had opened in her hand and she read the messy cursive in it "This book belongs to: Sarah Weser and no one else" Kayla smiled at the notion of her grandmother's teenage self scribbling this into her book. She reached over to her bedside table and picked up her ballpoint pen and in her neat-ish handwriting wrote underneath it "And now it belongs to: Kayla" She didn't write anymore because she hated her last name and she was never going to give it away so she didn't really see the point. As she reached over to place her pen down she flicked on her lamp and opened the book to the first page.

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Here you go Chapter two please read and review Oh yeah and "Your a worm, aren't you?" =)

~X~ NancisNeko ~X~


	3. A Royal Funeral

**Disclaimer:**** I Don't own The Labyrinth BUT I do own all the new characters. So don't steal them... please!**

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**Chapter Three: A Royal Funeral **

Jepha rode in the carriage behind his father's casket. It was lovely thing, as far as caskets go, for something you only see once in your life, and once in your death it was beautiful. He rode through the city staring out the houses, which was a loose term to Jepha these houses were more like huts to him, that were draped in every shade of black imaginable. The whole kingdom was in mourning, well save the royal advisor. He wasn't the least bit saddened by the loss of the life in fact he was elated, ecstatic, overjoyed about the fact that he now had a brand-new mind to mold and he would start right away. Before any outside sources gave any him ideas on how to run the kingdom. The advisor knew that if he could get to the young prince soon, when he was still vulnerable it would be just like running the kingdom. He sat in the seat across from the soon-to-be-king, who was at the moment staring out the carriage window with a kind of sad wistful look on his face as if he would rather be anywhere else in the whole world than here right now. "Now, I'm sure the kingdom wouldn't hold it against you if you took the next few weeks off, to grieve and I could, of course, take over the throne while…" the advisor began but he was cut off by the prince.

"No, I can't do that I will take the throne immediately." Not taking his eyes away from the scene outside. The beautiful, melancholy scene right outside the carriage but, to Jepha, seemed like a thousand worlds away.

"B…but the people. You must think of the people's view of you. They may think a cold-hearted man if you do not show some sadness toward the death of your father and surely a week or two off wont kill you!" The advisor said this in an almost pleading tone but much to the advisor's discomfort the prince caught his tone and turned his head away from the window and turned toward the advisor his eyes shifting from the calm, melancholy sea-foam, green to a cold, icy, blue that would send a chill down the biggest, strongest troll anywhere, and this was no exception to the royal advisor.

"Nothing you can say will change my mind about what I will do when I am king. I _will _take throne immediately." the prince hissed this with such venom that the advisor was shocked into silence and Jepha turned his head back to the serenity right outside the carriage. After a moment of silence between both of them Jepha spoke "I think you have become too detached from the general public and therefore do not know the true reactions of them." The advisor gave a questioning grunt to this still wearing off from the prince's previous words. The prince in turn swung his head lazily toward the dwarf he sighed and thought for a moment before talking again "You wouldn't be the best royal advisor in the 'people's eye' because you've lived in the castle for so long and those to places are very different." The prince said this so casually even, kicking his long legs up on the seat across from him, next to the dwarf, that he still didn't understand. The advisor looked at the prince even more confused than before. The prince sighed louder and more exasperated than before "How can I put this simply and kindly?" Jepha muttered to himself laughing slightly he said "Well, that's impossible. I'm sorry, Mr. Hoggle, but you're fired. You simply do not represent the working citizen today. You have become, well, spoiled. The termination of your duties will began tomorrow." The carriage jolted to a stop as Hoggle stammered trying to think of any thing to say to get his job back but was silenced by an index to his lips Jepha gave him a stern look that basically screamed "Shut up!" As Jepha stepped out of the carriage to begin the long trek uphill toward the royal section of the grave yard. But his breath caught in his throat in his as he saw the procession that had caught up with the two carriages on its way through the town. There were thousands possibly millions of goblins, trolls, dwarfs and anything else. He knew that the whole city and all of the nearby farmland wouldn't make this many creatures. Even through his shock at the turn-out he knew he still had a procession to lead. As he turned away he from the crowd he could his eyes turning from the cocky mirage of colors that were similar to that of a of a peacock's to the cold glassy black that they always did when Jepha was stressed or unhappy. The coffin bearers took their place behind Jepha and he could feel all the eyes, of all the kingdom, upon him.

The front left coffin bearer watched as the young prince turned away and began to lead his people up the path toward the royal section he followed and began to wonder how the prince would run the kingdom and he worried as he followed him up to the section. All that responsibility on the thin shoulders of a boy of only sixteen. When they reached the Royal Section Jepha walked to the gaping hole in the ground. As he stood, staring at his father's final resting place, he seemed to sink lower than low and as he stood feeling the worst he had in his entire life the sky broke open and poured down a furious torrent of rain, freezing cold little icicles of sadness down upon everything and everyone. Then people began to talk, they began to talk about his father and how he had been a good ruler and whatever else they could think up. Jepha stood and all he could think about was a hug, well several different hugs the last hug his mother ever gave him his father last hug to her and his father's last hug to him but that had all been years he could barely feel the ghosts of those arms wrapping around him, the squeeze of loving arms wrapping around his shoulders and the murmurs of "I love you" s in his ear. Those memories seemed so distant now. As people began to crowd around him but leaving a five foot circle around him, because he was the prince who was soon to be king. "I don't bite, I promise." Jepha said with a weak smile and an even weaker chuckle. The people chuckled slightly and came a bit closer. Jepha turned back to the hole and stared down it as the coffin was being lowered to the bottom. He stood there alone and cold until something happened a small pair of arms wound their way around his waist. Jepha looked down at the small goblin girl who was hugging him. Hugging him. She turned her tear stricken face up toward him and look at him with enormous hazel eyes that were filled with sadness. Jepha reached down and picked up the small girl and began to rock her gently back and forth in his arms. They heard an audible gasp from the citizens behind him. Soon more people came up behind him and began to pat him on the back and murmured their condolences, as all this was happening the sky began to clear and the rain began to let up. Soon the service was over and the creatures began to leave when they were all gone Jepha knelt down next to his father's fresh grave and whispered "Thank you."

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So there you go here is (Oh My Goddess) Chapter Three!!!! Hope you love it!!! Oh and "Go back to your room, play with your toys and your costumes." Please Read and Review!!!! And when I say Review I mean Review Not sit there and not review!!!! YOU BETTER!!!!

~X~NancisNeko~X~


	4. Great Uncle Toby

I am sorry it took so long to get this up! It's because I was moving and the computer got a bug and was at the shop for like five million forevers!! And then I took part in my favorite past time: procrastation. Sorry again. Please don't hit me!

**Disclaimer:**** I Don't own The Labyrinth BUT I do own all the new characters. So don't steal them... please! I also don't own Mindless Self Indulgence (the band) or 3s (the song) =(**

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**Chapter Four: Great Uncle Toby**

Kayla sat in the funereal parlor waiting for her mother to get done talking to all the guests. She felt sick to her stomach because two minutes ago she had just thrown up everything she had just eaten ever since the beginning of the small wake. Every single mini hotdog and tiny unknown finger foods that she had stuffed down her face had just been whirled down the toilet bowl in a flurry of disgusting colors. Kayla's mother walked and regarded her daughter with a look of pity. She broke the silence with the words "Your Great Uncle Toby wants to see you. He's in the other room. I'll be in the car." Kayla stood still weak from her barf-fest as her mother left. She slowly walked into the next room and in there was her Great Uncle Toby, sitting in a wooden chair near a window, Kayla wouldn't have recognized him if it hadn't been for the fact that he was the only one in the room and his eyes. Her Great Uncle had these striking blue eyes that seemed to look right into your soul. Kayla walked toward her Great Uncle and her eyes began to glisten with tears that would be soon to come.

"Now, I've heard that you won't be having a birthday party anymore. Why not?" Said her Great Uncle Tobias in a tone of voice that matched his facial expression. An expression that made Kayla want to cry more. Kayla's response to this was to shrug and then began to intently study the floor. "I want you to tell me the reason why you don't want to celebrate your birthday. You know that you only get to turn fourteen once." Even though they both knew why she didn't want to celebrate it.

"I don't want to celebrate my birthday because I spent it in hospice with my dying grandmother." Kayla said this with a deafening finality as the tears that had been building up in her eyes poured down over her face and stung her eyes. Her Great Uncle motioned for her to come closer and she did, he reached out and embraced her in a large bear hug as her tears stained his black sweater.

"Shh, dear its okay. It is okay." Tobias said in a calming voice that was like cashmere and chocolate mixed together. After a few more hushes from her Uncle and a few pats on the back Kayla calmed and stopped crying.

"You know what? It's not okay." Kayla sat up and broke away from a hug and a shocked Great Uncle "It is not okay because the only person who ever really cared about me is dead. Dead! Yeah that's why it's not okay and they just happened to die on my birthday. Why!? Why do you think that a few soft words and a hug or two is gonna make it all all right? Well guess what? It isn't." Kayla said this, well more like yelled, with a new wave of tears streaming down her face. She stormed toward the door across the room but stopped when she heard Great Uncle mutter something. Kayla turned and saw that he was already on the other side of the room approaching another door that she had not noticed before. "What did you just say?" but, either her Great Uncle didn't hear her or he was ignoring her, he just kept on walking to the door. Kayla repeated her question, louder this time but he was already out the door. Though she was alone in the room she could still hear the murmur of words unspoken. "Hello?" Kayla called out in a shaking voice but the whispers continued, now sounding like several voices whirling around her. She could only pick a few words and they all seemed angry. At her? Kayla clasped her hands over ears but somehow the words slipped through fingers and crawled into her mind. Kayla fell down onto the floor and began to sob, she stayed like this for a few minutes until all the voices receded into the darkest recesses of her mind. When she finally got up, trembling and shaking, and walked out. She looked around her and saw only white and shapes moving around behind it. Finally Kayla put two and two together and realized that it was snowing and began to move toward the only car with its lights on that wasn't moving. When she got in the warm car, she realized how soaking she really was. She let the heater's warmth flow over her body until her mother began to speak.

"Wow you were in there for a long time. What did he want?" Her mother said while maneuvering her large SUV out of the cramped parking space. "Hello, Earth to Kayla. Do read me? I asked you a question. Are you paying any attention to me." Martha said in a disgruntled tone as soon as she had gotten out of the tight space.

"Hmm. Oh, sorry. Umm, he didn't want anything just wanted to say hi. You know." Kayla said leaning back in her in her seat away from the heat. Her mother, taking this as an acceptable answer, turned on the radio to a music station.

"This is Beautiful Bob brining you all the latest music from the all the bands that, well, caught my attention over the week. Ha-ha. Well here's one of 'em: 3 S (Stupid, Sadistic, and Suicidal) by Mindless Self Indulgence." A techno-ish beat came over the sound system in the car and a high-ish, male voice added to it in a perfect way. Kind of industrial punk-ish

I'm the one who's so in love with you

I'm the one who's so in love with you

Man, I'm gonna fill you all the way

Uh, man, I'm gonna screw you all the way.

UhCause I'm stupid, sadistic and suicidal

Hard to accept, but that's the whole idea

Behind my motivations

Now here's the part for the radio station

I'm the one who's so in love with you

I'm the one who's so in love with you

Man, I'm gonna fill you all the way

Uh, man, I'm gonna screw you all the way, uh

I'm stupid, sadistic and suicidal

Hard to accept, but that's the whole idea

Behind my motivation

Now here's the part for the radio station

(Ow! Do-do-do-do)(You hate me! Do-do-do-do)(?)

This is what you want, baby,

This is what you want

This is what you want, baby,

This is what you want

Yeah, I really mean it this time

Really mean it this time

Really mean it this time

Really mean it this time

Really mean it this time

Really mean it this time

Really mean it this time

I really mean it this time

TimeCause I'm stupid, sadistic and suicidal

Hard to accept, but that's the whole idea

Behind my motivation

Now here's the part for the radio station

Stupid, sadistic and suicidal

Hard to accept, but that's the whole idea

Behind my motivation

Now here's the part for the radio station

While the song was playing Kayla took out a pen from her pocket and wrote down "Mindless Self Indulgence" on the palm of her hand before her mother switched it to one of those hokey late-night country station. Kayla tried to drown it out by reciting the lyrics of the Mindless Self Indulgence song in her head when they got home walked back up to her room. When she got there she went to her bedside table and stared down at the small red leather book that was on it. She sat on her bed picked it up and opened it to the first page because every time before that she would break out in tears, but as she began to read now no tears came. She smiled as she read and then after the first chapter she closed her eyes and smiled as she laid down on her bed but as soon as she got comfortable they voices came back plaguing her mind. Kayla slammed her hands on her ears again but this time she dug her nails into the side of her head. She wanted to scream but she didn't because she didn't want to wake anybody up and then they all cut off. Just like that like someone pressed the pause button on all sound and then it all came rushing back like a flood. A fire truck went screaming down her street which woke up Sarah downstairs which in turn woke up her mother then her Mom's boyfriend. Kayla sat in her bedroom caught in a shaft of moonlight hearing only the commotion below her.

The next day at school Kayla was called down to the guidance office for, what the counselor described it as, a "support group". When Kayla got there she realized that the group consisted of her and two others, one was a boy who was tall and was wearing a plain, black shirt and plain black pants but in contrast to his black clothing his hair was a bright shocking red like an apple or red lipstick. The other was a girl about, Kayla's age, and she was just as shocking as the boy next to her. She had two large poofy pigtails and her hair was extremely blond and had streaks of hot pink in it. She was wearing a black ruffled skirt and tights that were striped black and white that were cut off by a pair of large boots and a black tank top with a thick hot pink lining on it. Kayla feeling very plain next to them in her blue-jeans and red t-shirt and awkward because they were now staring at her as if expecting her to say something. "Um, are you guys supposed to be the support group people, thing?" Kayla said nervously.

"Yeah, we are. I mean I guess because the guidance counselor isn't here and so we've just been, like, sitting here. By the way, my name is Yuki and this is Theodore, don't call him 'Teddy' 'cause he hates that and he won't tell anyone why, not even me and I'm, like, his best friend." said the girl in a whirl of words and hand motion. "So what's your name and who did you lose?" Yuki said standing up and walking toward Kayla with her hand outstretched as if to shake it and Kayla took it.

"My name is Kayla and my Grandmother died a week ago." Kayla said feeling a little bit less awkward now that she realized that the girl, Yuki, was the talker of the two people in the room.

"Oh, well my cousin shot herself a month ago and Theodore's Dad was in a car crash and now he is a coma and that was, like, two weeks ago. Like, the death rate is, like, up in this town. Dontcha think?" Yuki said dragging her to a fold-out chair and practically threw her down in it and plopped herself down in the one across from her. Kayla glanced at Theodore who was staring at her with his emerald eyes.

"Want to hang out with me and Yuki after school?" said Theodore after a little while not taking his eyes off of Kayla

"Sure." responded Kayla after a second she smiled at the two and little did she know she had just made two of her most trusted friends in years to come.

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**Well TA-DA here is Chapter four. But there is one little thing you need to do before you go… I want ****you**** to give ****me**** a review and until you do that I can't give you chapter five so your options are review or die NO not die (ha-ha) just no chapter five. "Nothing?!? Tra-la-la!" I'm waiting, come on, just push that button it should be right there I hope you see it! If you don't well then you should get your computer checked or maybe your eyes! WELL PUSH IT AND TYPE!!!! (Oh and if you haven't heard that song before you should look it up on like You Tube or something) Mindless Self Indulgence is a really great band. They're a HNL! Hole Nutha Level!!! Ha-Ha I Love Music!!**

**~Nanci~**


	5. Three Years Later

**Disclaimer:I only own the new characters... because Jim Henson had the idea for the old ones first... But I can't be unhappy about that!**

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**Chapter Five: Three Years Later**

Jepha had changed his position in his bed five times in the last hour and knew he'd change again before the night was up. At this current moment he was on his stomach and had his pillow balled underneath his chest and chin. He had turned his body so that his head was near the foot board and his feet were resting on the pillows that lay forgotten behind him. And at this moment he was staring at a splash of moonlight, that was being shot through his bedroom window, and the dust mites that danced through it. The tightening in his chest was still there even while watching the serene beauty that had unfolded itself on his bedroom floor. Although the room that he lay in now, Jepha hardly considered a proper bedroom. It was large and often reminded him of the caverns just west of the Labyrinth, he sighed, his labyrinth. The furniture in the room was mountainous, made of dark wood and cast looming shadows throughout the room, day and night no matter what the position of the sun. The only warm thing in the room and the only thing in room that Jepha liked was his bedside table. It was small and largely unimpressive looking next to the large four poster bed with thick, Burgundy drapes that hung on it on which the Goblin King lay now. It was white and wicker and it's spindly, weak looking legs held nothing except for it's own weight. The table, though, had come from his baby nursery and the reason Jepha held it with such high regard was because his mother was it's creator and there was nothing more great than that to him.

Jepha, with this in mind, flattened out the pillow which he had been using for support, flipped over and said to himself "It's only your eighteenth birthday. What's the worst that could happen?" The King then fell into a deep sleep not even bothering to get under the blankets.

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Kayla stepped out of the big, brick, high school and onto the icy concrete steps instantly regretting leaving the considerably warmer building even if that did mean enduring the icy stares of teachers for the next six hours. She turned to Yuki, who was standing next to her with a similair look of uncomfortableness as Kayla, and asked "Should we do this? I mean we could go back right now and no would noticed."

Yuki turned to her as she pulled up the hood of her fur-lined, black coat and said "Aah, come on we skip all the time and anyway you're the one suggested it. And plus we need to find Theodore! Come on!" Kayla sighed and then the two began to walk down the treacherous steps one at a time occasionally reaching out and grabbing the other for support and trying not to fall over on their faces. Finally, when the pair got down the steps and finished the equally terrifying journey to the far-side of the parking lot where a little, black punch-buggy was parked, Yuki fumbled with the car keys in her icy hands, unlocked the car and the two girls leaped in. They both breathed a little sigh of relief when they were both safely inside their tiny cocoon of warmth away from the wind and cold outside.

Finally Kayla broke the silence with "Hey, what'd you mean when you said "find Theodore"?"

"Huh, oh I thought I told you he wasn't in homeroom today and when I called his cell in between first and second he didn't answer. I was going to say we should leave after lunch before you told that you wanted to right now." Yuki said this all while she backed out of the parking space and drove around behind the school to the service entrance where big trucks sometimes are to drop of the food that is sold in the caferteria and vending machines. The girls were in luck no one was there today. "So you want to stop by your house and, like, watch a movie and get warmed up before we go Theodore hunting?"

Kayla thought for a second before saying "Sure, but but be warned: my mom doesn't have work today so she is probably at my house."

"I thought your mom was OK with you skipping and stuff."

"Well, yeah but that doesn't mean she'll stop being a total jerk just 'cause your there. Hell, you've been over there before, you know what she's like."

"By the way, does your little sister have school yet? 'Cause, Jesus, if I have to answer one more question about my hair or my clothes Imunna smack that child so hard her unborn grandchildren gonna feel it!"

There was a pause and then the two girls burst out laughing. Lucky for Sarah she was over at a friend's house because she's only four.

**~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~**

The small goblin stared at his king who, was at this moment, sprawled out on his bed with his head hanging over his foot board. "Um, M-my Lord, you um, n-need to get up now. U-um, My Lord?"

The goblin was answered with a very un-kingly snort. Jepha opened one amber-colored eye and smiled at his stuttering servant. "Why are you so nervous? Today is great day. Look," he said turning his head toward the large window which now blazed with the morning sun "it's a beautiful day outside. Not a cloud in the sky, the grass is green and the sun is shining. It's days like this that make me happy to live here in The Underground!" Jepha propped himself up on his elbows and smiled an easy smile at... "By the way, what's your name?"

The goblin smiled, now at ease with his king and said "Hoveen and of course it's a beautiful day out, it's your birthday!"

"Ah, Hoveen and it's _these _days that make me wish I wasn't ruling." Hoveen opened his mouth to speak but then perhaps thought better of it and closed his mouth. "I need to get dressed so if you would..." said Jepha as he sat up and slung his legs over the edge of his bed so that he was now facing away from Hoveen.

Hoveen sighed and gave a deep, but unseen, bow to his king and left him in his room.

Jepha waited until the goblin left to get up and walk over to the enormous wardrobe. He flung open the doors with a flourish and regarded his clothes. Blacks, greys, blood reds and all manner of colors pushed to extreme darkness, at the bottom were all his boots ranging from thigh-high to ankle from platform to less than an inch off the ground. He reached and grabbed his favorite pants: dark grey that were snug but not tight. Jepha remembered with a slight shudder his father's old pants. At that thought he reached into the wardrobe and pulled out his black open-neck poet shirt. He pulled off his loose pajama pants, held up only by a thin rope so they wouldn't fall off his skinny hips, he then pulled on a pair of human-made boxers. He'd visited the Aboveground years ago and he had fallen in love with them. Then he put on his shirt and pants and turned toward the full length mirror. Even though didn't have any shoes on he was still tall, an imposing 6 foot 5 inches. In a moment of spontaneity he turned toward his bed, still unmade from last night, and began to run toward it when he was about 5 inches away from it he leaped into the air and landed square in the middle of his bed at that he began to jump up and down. Sailing at least three feet into the air Jepha let out a cry of pure ecstatic joy, his shoulder length black hair flowing around his face obscuring his vision for bouts of time so it's no surprise that he didn't notice when another goblin entered the room. She was four feet tall and was wearing a off-white apron over an light blue and white striped dress. Her brown-graying hair was put in a long braid that stopped at her waist and her gray-green face, as well as the rest of her clothes, had spots of flour on it.

"Still a child a heart, I see." She said with amusement in her green eyes. The hair moved away from Jepha's eyes and he saw her now. In mid-jump he tucked his legs under himself and let himself fall to the bed.

"Mallow!! You came!" He yelled as he scrambled off his bed almost tripping over himself to get across the room. When he got across the room to her (surprisingly not doing a face-plant) he fell to his knees and threw his arms around her shoulders.

"Of course I came to wish you a happy birthday! Your only eighteen once. And you only get one coronation!" She pushed him of her shoulders and studied his face. "Why so glum?"

"Mallow, have you ever heard of a prince not wanting to be king?" murmered Jepha sinking to a sitting position in front of her.

"What'd you say dear? I'm getting on in the years and my old ears can't hear as well as they used to." chuckled out Mallow.

Not having the courage to repeat what he had just said he said " I have to finish up getting ready so if you could..." he stood up and walked her back out the door smiling and accepting her many birthday wishes.

**~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~**

Kayla had scooted over on the bed so she and Yuki could sit comfortably at the end of her twin sized bed. Music quietly playing from the radio that sat on Kayla's bedside table and Yuki was having T.V. bipolar syndrome, quickly flipping through the channels barely pausing to see want the show on was about.

"Jesus, Yuki! Calm yourself! Your giving me a headache just watching you!" Said Kayla after the second time around the channels.

"What? There's nothing good on! It's not my fault that nothing good plays during the day!" After this being said Kayla grabbed the remote control and hit the off button. The two girls sighed and threw themselves backwards on the bed. All of a sudden there was a heavy banging coming from the corner of Kayla's room where her trapdoor was.

"What is it?!" Kayla screamed over the banging and it stopped.

Her mother screamed back through the floor "Isn't there school today?"

Kayla pushed herself up off the bed and went over to the door and pulled it open to reveal her mother standing there with one hand wrapped around a broom and another on her hip and her face was slightly flushed from banging and yelling. "When have you ever cared?"

Her mother's face got more sour and she said "That's right. Now get down here and clean if you're going to be home!" She said shoving the broom handle into Kayla's face.

"I can't, me and Yuki were just about to leave. Right, Yuki?" Kayla said and looked behind her for her friend's conformation.

"Yeah, right!" she said as she scrambled off the bed and over to the trapdoor and to look down on Kayla's mother.

"Move over, Martha." Kayla said as she dropped out of her room onto the second floor next to her mother. She looked up to see Yuki shoving her legs through the hole. "Move away." Kayla said angerly to her mother and Martha obliged. Yuki dropped through onto landing unsteadily and Kayla grabbed her hand "Come on or we'll be late." saying the first thing that popped into her head. They then practically ran down the stairs to the kitchen were they they were greeted by a very awkward sight. There was a man sitting at the counter wrapped in only a towel. Both girls slapped their hands over their eyes and Kayla yelled "God! Mike! Put on some clothes before you walk around the house!"

There was silence then 'Mike' said "How many times do I have to tell you? My name isn't 'Mike' it's Jeff!"

Kayla yelled back "How many times do _I_ have to tell _you_? I don't care!" and with their hands still on their eyes they walked out of the house. When the two girls got into Yuki's car there was only an awkward silence both of the girls knew that for last seven years Kayla had called all of her 'uncles' and 'new dads' Mike. Neither of them knew why Mike was the name that all of them were granted it just was.

Finally, Yuki broke the silence with "So where are we going?"

"Theodore's house." Yuki started the car and began the drive to his house. When the two girls got there there were to things wrong the smells of non-burnt food coming from the house and that neither Theodore's mom's or his step dad's cars were there. The two girls banged on the door Theodore answered looking slightly frustrated and upon realizing who it was looked slightly less mad and ushered them in.

"Hey, Theodore! What's up with the food?" Yuki asked after both the girls had hugged their guy-friend and broken away.

"Oh, I knew you guys would come looking for me if I didn't answer my phone enough times and I decided 'Why not give my best friends a real proper breakfast?' and so this is what happened!" he gestured to the dining room and the to the lavious room. The cabinets in the room filled with crystal and china were nothing compared to the feast of eggs, bacon, pancakes and other warm delicious breakfast items spread out on the large oak table. Kayla and Yuki grinned at their best guy-friend and hugged him again and kissed on the cheeks before digging into the feast on the table. Theodore ate with them but considerably less than the two ravenous, underfed girls.

**~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~**

Alison couldn't see the back porch light now. "Come on, George. Come on we gotta get going now." Her dog, George, though had other plans and began to pull harder deeper into the forest. _SNAP! _Alison and George froze as they both heard the twig break up the path. Alison pulled on the dog's leash and this time he came without struggle. _CRACK! _The pair broke into a run and Alison could swear she heard giggling. They ran faster and the back door light was in view now. Little feet echoed her and George's now and a stitch was beginning form in her ribs. Something nipped at her heels and she cried out. George and Alison were now within ten yards of the porch and they slowed a little, bad idea. A large hand wrapped itself fully around Alison's ankle she fell, screaming as she went down, but George kept going and began to pull her and her captore along toward the house. Alison's hand hit the first step of her porch but her other hand slipped out of the leash and several other pairs of hands began to grab at her. Pulling her away from George who was howling and barking on the porch. "Please!! Someone!" She screamed out in final desperation before another hand slapped itself around her mouth silencing her. She was dragged away clawing at the ground leaving marks in the short grass.

Amy, Alison's mother, stood in the living room with Detective Marks. "I just woke up and heard George barking and so I went outside to get him and..." Amy began to cry into a tissue she had been clutching.

"And that's when you found the marks and the blood?" Marks finished for her. Amy's mother didn't speak but just shook her head 'yes' furiously still sobbing into the tissue.

"Hey, Detective Marks, can you come here for a second?" a c.s.i. guy said.

"Of Course, One moment Miss Jenkins." Marks followed Randsun, the c.s.i., out into the forest and stopped at the end of the trail. "Is this what I came all the way out here to see? A rabbit hole?"

"No, you came here to see the end of the trail. Or at least as far as the dogs can go, they all tried to go down the hole." Randsun looked at Marks with meaning in his eyes.

"You mean she down there?" Marks laughed a little and then saw Randsun's expression "You're not kidding? Are you?"

**~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~**

Jepha sat on his throne and accepted a present from probably the thousandth time. Until a larger group of goblin came up dragging along a girl who looked to be about seventeen. He clothes were torn and covered and blood and dirt. she was crying furiously. Jepha stood up. "What's going on here?"

One of the goblins stepped forward "We have brought Your Highness a bride!" He looked extremely proud of himself. Jepha ran forward and kicked the goblins away from the girl, he pulled the gag out of her mouth.

"Th-th-these th-th-things th-they took me! Th-they dragged me away! Oh, God! They took me!" Her sobbing became intense and Jepha hugged her to her chest.

"Guards! Take these idiots to the dungeons!" He yelled angrily. The goblins had a look of horror on their faces.

"B-but my Lord," one manged to say before being dragged off by a guard. With some coaxing from Jepha the girl, Alison, was now in a room being cleaned off and given different clothing.

"What are we going to do? What are we going to do?" Jepha said as he nervously paced in his study. "Stupid idiots!" He shouted at no one. "What are we going to do?"

"We could always... give her back." said a servant offhandedly as he entered the room set down the tea and was leaving. As the door banged shut when the words sunk into Jepha's head.

"Oh, your right! We can!" He yelled excitedly as he ran from his study to Alison's room down the hall. "Alison! I have an idea to get you back to your world!" He burst into her room and was met with the sound of laughter. Alison was sitting on the bed with Mallow and both were laughing hard.

"Oh, Mallow! You - ha ha! I can't believe you!" Alison fell back on the bed looking a right state better than their last encounter in the throne room. Her wounds had been cleaned and her clothes had been switched out for new ones.

Jepha leaned down to the servant waiting by the door. "Where are her old clothes?"

"On their way to the fire pit, Your Highness."

"Go get them before they get there. Thank you!" He walked away from the receiding guard. "Alison," she looked up with a big smile still plastered on her face. "I have a way to get back safe and sound! But it might be a little uncomfortable though." He said the last part with a slight frown but still kept his optimistic attitude.

"Okay! I don't mind a little discomfort! Just as long as I get home." She smiled at him.

"Well, it involves getting you really dirty, maybe dragging you around a little more and having you stumble out of the forest you were stolen from!" He beamed at her.

Alison's smiled faded a little but still said "Sure! You know who you remind me of?"

"No, who?"

"My friend Kayla! She always says stuff like that and you two dress alike too! It's funny!"

You know that reminds me. There is one thing you can't do when you get back to the human world: tell anyone about here.'

"I wasn't planning on it. Everyone would think I was crazy! Well 'cept maybe Kayla she loves stuff like this! She's even got this book called 'The Labyrinth' I tried reading it once. This totally reminds me of it! Even the maze outside!" She giggled but Jepha's face had gone somber.

"I have to go look for something. A servant will bring up your old clothes and then Mallow will bring somewhere with dirt and stuff so you can get all... dirty." He said this with a smile that was considerably less sincere then before. He left the room and headed to the great library. The great library was large and dusty and held everything from odd scraps off paper that people find on the ground to old tomes of magic written in dead languages to human fairy-tale books and dead king's journals "Hello," he said to the old, withering librarian sitting behind large piles of books that covered his desk "I need to borrow my father's old journal." The goblin looked up at him from behind large spectacles and he greatly reminded Jepha of a bug a that point. The Librarian smacked his lips and decided his next words slowly, very slowly.

"Which one?"

"How many are there?" The Librarian staired at him with an odd look of defiance in his old eyes.

"Twelve, now which one do you want?" He croaked out.

"Could I have all of them?" A large frown spread out across the Librarian's face now making him resemble a cross between a bug and a toad.

"Fine, see if I care! I'm only the one who has to climb all around the library getting all your silly, precious, diaries! Stupid old...." the rest faded away as the old goblin stalked off into the depths of the library. He came back a long time later but Jepha decided not to complain. The old Librarian shoved the books into his hands. "Now get out. I can't deal with you kids today..."

"Thank you." Jepha walked away with the books in hand. He flipped open the first one and read.

_' October 21st - Father has started training me to work in the kitchens. He says it's good work not the most easy but not the most hard so i guess it's better than having to work in the Fields because you have no work for a good part of the year. He told me another story of my grand father and his father and his father and how they all have been kitchen workers 'A long line of proud Goblins all working toward serving the king in the kitchen...' blah blah blah still doesn't make it any less boring ....'_

Jepha stopped in his tracks and smiled. A joke story by his father obviously. He went to the next entry and found it to be like the other he flipped through the whole book and found every entry and every book to be about working in the kitchen and then meeting a beautiful moutain elfess and then having a baby boy. Jepha stopped reading and went back to the Librarian.

"Excuse, me you gave the wrong journals. These are a kitchen workers not my father's."

"Eh, you again? What do you mean 'wrong journals'? Those are your father's."

"_No_, my father was the king not a kitchen worker!" He was getting angry at the old Librarian now.

"NO! Your father! Your father is a respectable man! Until that tyrant! That tyrant Jareth stole you away! He," he said gesturing to the book "is your father! Not that-"

"Wait," said Jepha, cutting off the ranting Librarian "what do you mean 'is'?"

"He's still alive! You know us Goblins live longer than you half things!" Jepha turned around to rush to the kitchens but stopped himself. These things could be taken care of later. He turned back to the old Librarian.

"I need Jareth's journals. Please."

"Which one?"

"How many are there?"

"Three, now which one do you want?"

"Which one was written after the girl came?"

"Eh, whadda mean 'after the girl came'?"

"You know the girl who beat the Labyrinth."

"Oh." The Librarian stalked off again muttering. He came back with three enormous tomes. "Here, take 'em and leave. I don't want to hear another word!" Jepha stalked off to his room seriously considering firing the Librarian just for telling him to leave like that, but Jepha knew he wouldn't because no one in the castle knew the library like he did. He sat them down on the table and picked up the first journal.

_Dear Journal,  
__The girl, the one who ran the labyrinth and won, I can't stop thinking about her. I find myself waking up as an owl in the tree outside her window and not even remembering how I got there. Sarah, fair Sarah, she's torn me to pieces and not even thought of what she done. I can't believe her! She makes me so angry sometimes! I can't believe it I think I'm in love with her. A human, in love with a human. In other words I need to find some one quick so as to get this girl out of my mind. No, I'm not in love I'm just... astounded that a weak little girl beat the Labyrinth. My Labyrinth! So annoying!  
__--Jareth--_

_Dear Journal,  
__I found out why she was able to beat my Labyrinth! She has a book and it tells all of its secrets! Ha! I'll steal it back and keep it from any other human's hands! Ha! I'll get it back!  
__--Jareth--_

_Dear Journal,  
I wasn't able to find the book but I did find out that Sarah, is 'dating' another man! The fool! Didn't she realize that I offered her everything, everything in my world and hers! I seriously considered killing that boy! Stealing my love away and making her blind to me! Oh, Sarah, why? WHY?  
--Jareth--_

Jepha read all three volumes all very similar, each one rambling about the girl named Sarah and her human boy. He processed everything that was written including one entry that he had stolen away a baby boy from a kitchen hand saying that no one would notice if one more child went missing. At the last entry Jepha came to conclusion: his 'father' was absolutely crazy.

**~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~**

Kayla, Theodore and Yuki all sat in silence in Kayla's room until Theodore broke it. "I can't believe it, she's really gone. I mean it's already been a week and the police have already stopped looking for her. They said they went over the forest tons of times and they didn't even find a... a..."

"Body? Yeah, do you 'spose she could've just ran away? I don't know, maybe, do you think she would have told us?" Yuki murmured looking at the floor. Silence fell again only broken by the shrill ringing of the phone from downstairs.

"Kayla! Phone's for you! Come here and get it!" Martha yelled from the bottom of the stairs.

"Sorry, you guys. Gimme a second." She said as she slipped down the hole Theodore and Yuki waited for her to come back and when she did it was not like they expected "You guys! Come on we have to go! Alison is back!" She vaulted through the hole without the help of the ladder.

"What!?" Yuki and Theodore yelled in unison.

* * *

Cliffhanger? Definitely. And now you will wonder and squirm and be like 'What's going to happen?' and I'm all like 'Wait.' So.... yeah.


End file.
